Enabling high quality, low dose myocardial perfusion imaging for nuclear cardiology Philips BrightView XCT with Astonish

Over the past 20 years, SPECT myocardial perfusion imaging (MPI) has become an important tool for assessing patients with known or suspected coronary artery disease (CAD). Despite the success of SPECT MPI, laboratories that are performing these procedures are under pressure to reduce costs, improve image acquisition efficiency, reduce absorbed radiation dose, and improve diagnostic accuracy. Philips Healthcare has recently developed two products to address these needs: BrightView XCT, which is well-suited to provide attenuation correction for cardiac imaging, and Astonish, an improved reconstruction method that makes more efficient use of acquired counts by incorporating imaging physics into the reconstruction process. This paper describes the technical developments that Philips has made to advance nuclear cardiology by improving diagnostic accuracy, improving department efficiency, and reducing the radiation dose that patients receive in a practical way that can be implemented in most hospitals and clinics. It also presents clinical results demonstrating the value of these developments.